


Khan and Kirk: Two sides of the same coin

by Cerridwen



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Inspired By Tumblr, Inspired by a Movie, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-14 08:03:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5735935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cerridwen/pseuds/Cerridwen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It has often been said even in the original series that Khan and Kirk are very similar to each other. Even to the point of calling them “but two sides of the same coin.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Khan and Kirk: Two sides of the same coin

It has often been said even in the original series that Khan and Kirk are very similar to each other. Even to the point of calling them “but two sides of the same coin.” This is even truer in the movie. In almost every respect they parallel each other.

In the first respect Khan used Thomas Harewood to destroy the archive in order to rescue his crew. What is significant here is that not only was there an extremely low body count for an explosion of that size (which in my opinion is due to Khan evacuating the street of all civilians before the bomb went off) but also the compassion that he showed to Lucille Harewood. Notice that he did not kidnap the sick little girl and her mother and hold them hostage in order to force Harewood to obey him, which is what Marcus had done to Khan. Nor did he hold out the promise of a cure to be delivered only after Khan had his crew back in his care, which again is what Marcus had done to him. Instead he gave his own blood to heal her and did so in advance, thereby giving up the tactical advantage. Given Khan’s reputation as a strategist he had to know the risk in doing so.

Kirk showed this same sense of compassion and honour when he disobeyed his orders to kill “Harrison” by firing the torpedoes at a planet and this is before he knew that Khan’s crew were inside them. Granted once Khan surrendered after saving Kirk, Spock and Uhura, Kirk did his level best to beat his unarmed prisoner to bloody pulp. While his actions can be described as “a bit not good” they and the pain and rage which drove Kirk are understandable. They are as understandable as Khan’s attack on the Daystrom Conference after he believed that his entire crew had been murdered. There are many who would point out that Kirk only beat Khan but Khan was killing people and they would be right. But the difference lies in the fact that Kirk only lost one person he loved, Khan believed he had lost everyone and everything he loved. It should also be noted that, as has been pointed out by the authors’ of other metas such as BotanyCameos that the only fatalities were admirals and Khan had Kirk in his laser sights three times but didn’t fire. Both Khan and Kirk are capable of showing mercy to their enemies even in the midst of their pain.

But just as their virtues are the same so too are their flaws. Both men are capable of terrible atrocities in the name of protecting or avenging their crews. Just as Khan killed the Section 31 agents in London and the admirals at the Daystrom so too did Kirk invade Qo’nos without his government’s authorization and helped to kill a Klingon patrol whose only crime was defending their home. While neither intended for innocent blood to be shed, still it was. The fact that it was Khan who killed most of the Klingons in order to save Kirk and the others from the consequences of their own actions is the heart of situational irony.

It is in the lengths they will go to protect their crews that the ultimate similarities between them are revealed. While Kirk at first did try to protect Khan’s crew from Marcus, when the Enterprise was crippled and Marcus was about to destroy her Kirk offered to turn Khan over in exchange for the lives of his crew. But Marcus didn’t want Khan alone, he wanted Khan’s crew and he was going to kill them all and Kirk knew it. Just as he knew that they were the last of the augment race. In order to protect his own crew Kirk became complicit in an act of attempted genocide. Now there are many who would recite Spock’s favourite saying about the needs of the many out weighing the needs of the few. But that very same argument can be used to justify Khan’s attack on the archive. While he did conspire to kill 42 people he did so in order to save the lives of 72 people, his crew.

It is only to the extremes that they will go to in order to avenge their crews that Khan and Kirk differ.

When Spock detonated the torpedoes inside the Vengeance he – intentionally or not – deceived Khan into believing that Khan’s entire crew had been murdered by the Vulcan whose life he had saved on Qo’nos. When faced with what he believed was the genocide of his entire race Khan went Kamikaze into San Francisco, killing hundreds of people. What should be remembered here is that all Starfleet vessels have a self-destruct mechanism. Khan could have programmed the ship to self-destruct upon impact with the city. That explosion would have been equal to a several mega-ton nuclear bomb at the very least. Such an explosion would have turned San Francisco into a radioactive crater and poisoned everything around it for hundreds of miles. Khan could have easily escaped the crashing Vengeance either by using the transporter on the bridge or by the bridge’s escape shuttle. He chose to go down with the ship instead. What all this means is that even at his worst Khan still was not capable of intentionally targeting innocent lives. His target after all was Starfleet Headquarters, not the city itself.

Kirk on the other hand would have chosen otherwise, even in the original universe. Here, I need to bring in an episode from the television series: A Taste of Armageddon. In this episode Kirk and his entire crew are faced with execution and Kirk programs the Enterprise to open fire on the planet and kill every sentient being if the execution is carried out. This time, instead of being simply complicit in an act of attempted genocide Kirk was the one willing to commit it himself and to do so on a planetary scale. Now this incident has not been brought in the reboot universe as yet but it does illustrate my point.

It is this that is the fundamental difference between Kirk and Khan. For of two of them it is actually Kirk who is the more ruthless, the one capable of far greater atrocities if pushed to it. This is not to say that Kirk is evil or without a conscious or honour, quite the opposite. As I stated earlier, one of the ways these two men are so similar is their deep and profound sense of honour and morality. But when it comes to their crew or anyone else under their protection they both have the capacity to put these aside in order to protect or avenge them. But Kirk has this to a greater degree.

This is why I think that Starfleet or at least Section 31 had better tremble if Khan and his crew have been harmed. That Khan is going to be coming back in a later sequel is pretty obvious. Abrams and the other writers would have killed him off at the end otherwise. It’s just a question of how and why. What is of special note here is that Kirk gave his word to protect Khan’s crew if Khan would help him take over the Vengeance and stop Marcus. Regardless of what Khan did afterwards – and there are numerous other metas, my own and others that argue that destroying the Enterprise was not Khan’s intention – he did keep his end of the bargain. He helped Kirk and did not attack him until after Kirk had betrayed him. Kirk owes Khan and though Khan did inadvertently caused Kirk’s temporary death once still Kirk remains in his debt. And Kirk takes his oaths and his debts seriously. If things turn out badly for Khan and his crew then they are going to turn out even worse for Starfleet and Section 31.

**Author's Note:**

> You can now follow me on tumblr at http://www.khantoelessar.tumblr.com


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